Ephesians 4:1-6

II. THE PRACTICAL MANIFESTATION IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER (4-6)

1. Walking worthy of the Calling

CHAPTER 4:1-6

1. The walk in lowliness and meekness (Ephesians 4:1)

2. Keeping the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3)

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called.” This marks the beginning of the second part of the epistle. it is obvious then, to walk worthy as a Christian, one has to know the calling wherewith God has called us. This calling, as we have seen, is revealed in the first three Chapter s. The first exhortation is to walk “with all lowliness and meekness.” He does not speak of doing some great work, or to seek special gifts and special power. Lowliness and meekness are to be manifested by the members of the body of Christ. These two words remind us of the Lord Jesus and the words which came from His blessed lips. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). He who had laid His glory by, thus emptying Himself, lived down here in lowliness and meekness. And we are called to walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6). “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). The Holy Spirit tells us then that the first thing in the walk of the believer is to manifest the lowliness and meekness of the Lord Jesus. Walking in meekness produces gentleness towards the brethren, the fellow-saints. And as we walk “with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” we manifest practically that we are members of the one body. Love is to be the governing principle towards all the saints of God.

In the second place we are to give “diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We are not told to produce the unity of the Spirit, but to keep it. What is this unity of the Spirit? It is the unity which God in His infinite grace has made Himself. All believers are members of the body of Christ, the Church. The Holy Spirit dwells in each and He has put us into that body as members; the one body, and believers members of that body, constitutes the unity of the Spirit. We are to own it by keeping it in the bond of peace. This unity can never be destroyed for it is the work of God. But it may be denied and the expression of it completely lost. Alas! this is the common thing about us. Sectarianism is a denial of this unity of the Spirit. We keep the unity of the Spirit when we recognize in every true believer a member of Christ and of His body. What will enable us to keep this unity and this walk worthy of our calling? We must constantly feed on the glorious realities of our redemption in Christ. What God has wrought for us and for all His saints, the fact that all are indwelt by the same Spirit, and that all have the same glorious destiny, must never be lost sight of.

The unity of the Spirit is revealed in Ephesians 4:4. Again, the three persons of the Godhead are seen only in reverse order, the Holy Spirit first, the Son of God the second, and the God and Father third.

The Holy Spirit

1. One Body

2. One Spirit

3. One Hope

The Son of God, the Lord

4. One Lord

5. One Faith

6. One Baptism

The God and Father

7. One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all

The one body, which stands first, is the Church, the body of Christ. The fullness of Him that filleth all in all. The one Spirit is the Holy Spirit. He came on the day of Pentecost and the Baptism of the Spirit then took place, by which the body of Christ is formed. “For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). The one hope is the hope of the Church, to be with the Lord in glory, to be like Him and share His glory. The next three linked with the Lord and are likewise connected with the Church. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, presents the aspect of public profession. The one Lord, is Christ; all Christians own Him professedly as Lord. The “one faith” is the faith in the Lord and the “one baptism” is water-baptism, which is both, the initiatory rite of Christian profession and an expression of that faith in the one Lord. And God is the “one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.” Of course this applies only to believers.